(Ever more) Autumn Dolls~

Been having a good time making little companion creatures~

Now I'm thinking I'll finish up one more 'monster' and then make some little fairy/jackalope/winged gals~ as I so enjoy creating.. maybe I'll finally get around to making one with a nice cuff of white fur/wool that I so love to draw:

And I keep thinking I should really be making some honest to goodness 'art-dolls'~ you know the kind that people actually have in galleries and art shows... but I just don't think I will~ I can think about them... sketch ideas out - but what would I do with one if I actually finished one? I don't want to create things that require extra attention - I want to make creatures that fit in on a bookshelf or tucked in a living room by a lamp. A little companion - a friendly face - something to make someone smile - not a piece of work that requires the new owner to worry. I want to make art that people live with... not showcase. Back to work I GOoooo~

Wyck and Alban...

Wyck is the smiling monster and Alban the white rabbit...

New Monster(s)

Using what I learned from making all those Hungry Monsters... I thought I'd try making me own troop of cute furry creatures... this is the first of (I hope) a few. I do have a rather extensive collection of faux furs and I can't wait to see what I make next... I wonder what it will be... I hope it's maroon... I have aLOT of maroon fur.

This little dude has the usual posable bits - legs, arms, neck, arms... but with the added ears and err... um... fuzzy horn antenna...

Hugs and hellos to all out there - back soon with more monsters!

Long overdue...

Oh goodness - I'm sorry - I puttered off without so much as a word. But England was my distraction and it was awesome! Of course - I didn't see ALL of it... but I did ride a great number of miles on a good number of trains, so I saw just about all the rails that run from the East to the West.... and I was able to see the edge of Dartmoor <-- the landscape/area that inspired Brian Froud's Faeries... though I didn't see a copy of this book until I was in my 20's... and I'm not sure how or when a copy ended up in my collection - though I was happy to see it when I went home to visit my books...errrr.. I mean family. (love you, guys!) ... I think I learned more about this particular tome listening to the man himself at FaerieCon a few years back. And then I had to know more and then of course - I had to go there. I must have mentioned it one too many times because when the chance came up family and friends all but tossed me on a plane.

I now have pledged to become the TOTAL expert on Dartmoor. I only saw its sheep poo covered edge and I am so in love I fear I may have to move to England.

Well... I should probably get back to the monsters I'm making (photos to follow).

Be back sooooon! Promise.

Imp attack!

I fear I've not much to say at the moment... I'm tired, covered in fur, glue and spray paint... but oh so happy.

I've plans for another monster/creature - sort of eastern dragon like... of course, in my slightly cute/creepy style... 'cause I can't help myself.

Oh! And another plan/goal to add to my already (often unfinished) list of 'things to do in the day' I am adding a weekly plan to finish one truly finished/large portfolio image. 'cause... well, artists need those - right?

Right.

See you soon!

Oh! and I have a good sized lot of button/magnets finished as well... I'll get you some images of those next time.

work-work-work- lint roll! + Heros

Oh the fur! I am covered with it... the room is covered with it... Do they make room sized lint rollers? No matter, I have ye'ol broom and dust pan.
I'm happy with how they are turning out... each one is new, and I'm learning little things about the materials. Though I find myself, sadly, still trying to shake the world of the 'fine artist' that I was hardly ever really in... I've made only four of these little guys and a conversation with my favorite college teacher keeps tugging at the corners of my mind - he was worried that I would fall into the trap of only creating the flower pictures that I have, probably, only ever made half a dozen of... and at the time of the conversation - had only made two and just for my senior show. A show that, I hoped, would express my confusion about what made the shapes I found so pleasing 'corny' if they had eyes or 'art' if I turned them to the side and covered their faces...

I never have found answers... only the ones I've dug out of the muck of my own mind - And that is... these things are easy to like. Flowers, imps, trees, etc etc... they are easy to understand and to except. And so - they are not fine art.. heck, they are often hardly considered art.

But - and I have come to find this the most reassuring of things- all the artists whose works I've long loved - did not create works that fall into those fields of acceptance. I love Clive Barker's art work with a passion. He is shameless and he is ever ever EVER full of life and imagination and corny though it is - love. Love for creation and expression... and that comes in the form of strange and wonderful things that he -wants- people to want. He isn't holding you at bay with a stick demanding you pay him homage.

Brian Froud creates for a deity.. a force he believes calls to him - I don't have any such supernatural force to blame for my active choice to create things with pointy ears - I really really just like how they look. I do think I can blame him for it though. I blame him for a lot of my innate esthetics. Well.. I blame him and Jim Henson... and don't get me started on Jim Henson... I think his name... his work.. and his life speaks for itself. I was beyond lucky to have had a childhood so surrounded by his creative presence.

I'm proud to not fall into a world of creators that make solely for themselves.... I would be honored to, maybe, be placed in that category where all my heros meander: Imaginative fantasy (to use the Netflix genre name). Even if that means I inevitably find myself working at a bank... I'd rather have walked this path for a little while than to have lived the in the world of gallery shows and pretension. I once said - I'd rather be sweeping floors at The Creature Shop than working anywhere else... I still feel that way - geh.

Back to work! Where is that 'ol broom. ;)

New monsters/imps...

I wanted to try making some smaller monsters... so I thought I'd take the imps I sketch (which I had made into two plushies for x-mas gifts this last year... and had been rather pleased with) and make them into dolls... I think they've turned out rather well... Again - trying to balance the fantasy... But I fear - some of the sketches - when I take them closer to what could exist in this world... and we move from cute to scary rather quickly... So I stood firm and tried to keep these guys close to my sketches.

Like in this sketch... though he's slightly different... more like the Duster character... (geh! I'd better watch out... I might start putting a story together...)


It's... kinda overwhelming to sit down to something and have very little idea how it will turn out... so often though... the media itself dictates what you'll have as an end result... I suppose not knowing just what you're making can help a great deal when working with a fickle media.

Granted, dear reader - I often have no idea what I'm going to do until it's done and I've scanned it and I sit here typing about it.

It's - kind fun. But, again, rather strange and, often, overwhelming...

Good thing I work so small... what would I do with something MORE than 20 inches... no no.. I must always work small... something big would take me over.... and then where would I be?

I recall a large drawing of leaves I worked on in college (my father has it now)... I worked on it until I passed out. Woke up and sketched until I passed out again... I think this went on for two or three days. It was fun, but I can't live like that - the dishes would pile up and the food would burn...

So: Small scanner sized things... those - I will be back with soon!

A few new images...

They haven't been cleaned up.. I still need to work a bit more on a few of them before I'd call some of them done - but I wanted to share what I have so far :)